One of the country’s best-known personal injury firms will double its advertising spend this year after returning to television screens in 2022.

NAHL Group, which runs the National Accident Helpline claims farmer as well as its own law firm, will spend more than £1m on a range of advertising through television, radio, billboards and YouTube.

The listed company is buoyed by profits up from £200,000 to £600,000 in the year ended 31 December 2022, and intends to capitalise by returning to brand awareness drives of the kind that were commonplace before the pandemic.

Will Herbertson, managing director of consumer legal services, said that NAHL stopped all television advertising when the pandemic began, partly due to financial constraints and partly because fewer people were driving and so might have suffered an accident.

But with lockdown lifted and people’s movement back to normal, there was no question that marketing would recommence.

‘It is a fundamental part of stimulating demand in the market,’ he said. ‘If you rely on Google you are talking to people who are searching for the thing you are advertising. There is an opportunity to tell the wider public that you exist.’

The company focused on advertising during daytime and early evening programmes on a range of channels. The biggest change in the past 10 years, Herbertson said, is that adverts lead to a spike in Google searches for the brand, rather than direct calls.

‘Now it is more about reminding people we are here so when they search on Google we are at the top of their minds.’

Billboard and radio advertising will be ramped up in the next nine months, but NAHL is particularly keen to assess the potential for reaching clients through YouTube, which may prove a more efficient and targeted process than other mediums.

‘If people watch our advert we pay for it,’ said Herbertson. ‘It is a very good way to reach people. It has the potential to be a much more cost-effective method.’

NAHL chief executive James Saralis told the Gazette that personal injury firms have a ‘hidden opportunity’ to access hundreds of millions of pounds in an untapped market.

The firm, which no longer targets cases solely subject to the tariff for low-value claims, estimates that thousands of potential customers have yet to come forward.

Saralis added: ‘One of the significant drivers behind the reduction in claim numbers was the stigma with making a claim, and the perceived complexity and cost. We think there is a potential £1.4bn additional market in settlements for people who have had an accident and not made a claim.’

 

This article is now closed for comment.